Here are the best (or the worst, depending on which side of the fence you are sitting) examples of stock-market crashes of the 19th century from the mammoth list that could be mentioned. The majority took place in the USA, which was at the heart of industrialized prowess at the time; a place where money could be made hand over fist, but where it could be lost twice as quickly. The John-Dos-Pasos world of disillusion and hope of classes in the race to become rich and somebody, a household name: (full story)